Larry O’Brien

Congratulations to everyone in the City of Ottawa who participated in Earth Hour.  Last night by simply flicking off a light we participated in the largest demonstration of public concern over climate change.

Ottawa is part of a worldwide awareness program that proves that “we the people” want action on the important issue of climate change and global warming. The electricity we saved last night is enough to power 58 homes for a month.

However, there is a much bigger story and a good one at that. Last night, over 4,000 cities from over 88 countries representing hundreds of millions of people took part in the third annual Earth Hour event.

Starting from one City three years ago, the growth of the Earth Hour movement has been phenomenally encouraging to all of us who believe that our actions can make a difference. I can see a day where the Earth Hour challenge is a monthly, then weekly and finally, a daily challenge for billions of people and that gives me great hope for our future. Last night, we voted for a better world and a better future.

A special recognition to Hydro Ottawa and the Ottawa Sun who went above and beyond to make Ottawa’s participation in this global event a success.

Like you, I share a concern for our environment and I am committed to participating in the Earth Hour campaign and encourage the citizens of Ottawa to do the same.

Last year Ottawa was one of the first cities in Canada and the world to join the Earth Hour initiative and we saw great success with thousands of residents and businesses participating. In fact, Hydro Ottawa reported an overall reduction in energy by four per cent during last year’s Earth Hour – with your participation we can build on this success.

So tomorrow, March 28, make sure to turn out your lights from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m.  This campaign demonstrates how a simple act of turning off a light, conducted on a collective basis, can and will make a difference in the fight against climate change.

This morning I visited Chapel Hill Catholic Elementary School and Corpus Christi School, along with Hydro Ottawa’s Earth Hour Owl, and it was inspirational to see the level of understanding these young girls and boys had about the need to do something about climate change.

Thank you to Principals Katie Kenny and Monica Kerwin for the time they spent today making Earth Hour special.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank this year’s sponsors of the City of Ottawa’s Earth Hour Campaign.
Thank you to Rosemarie Leclair, CEO of Hydro Ottawa – without her support we would not have been able to engage the community and take up the challenge of integrating Earth Hour into our day-to-day activities.

A very special thank you to the Ottawa Sun, Ottawa Chamber of Commerce, local schools and businesses for all of your support!

For more information on why Earth Hour is important to our city and our environment, please click here.

And don’t forget - on March 28 at 8:30 p.m. switch off your lights for an hour, a simple way to help make the world a better place.

Today City Manager Kent Kirkpatrick presented to Council the third phase of restructuring the operations at the City of Ottawa.

The results of this latest round of restructuring streamlines our management structure and citizens will now have a single point of contact to access important City services. The City Manager’s objectives are to clarify accountability for client’s service outcomes, establish a single access point for related services and improve the City’s ability to be more responsive to Council and the community.

I have heard from many people about the difficulties they have experienced dealing with various departments at City Hall. What seems to be a simple request requires multiple phone calls or transfers. We are now implementing a single point of client contact. 

The City staff contact will be responsible for navigating the workings inside City Hall and these changes will make it easier for you to work with your municipal government and that’s just common sense.

After all, it is your money and you want City Hall to run effectively. I believe that these changes will not only save money, but they will improve service to our customers – not an easy task but one that is being accomplished and I congratulate management for a job well done.

These changes are also the end of a process we started last October and now staff can focus on working within the new structure. We have a lot of work to do and we are now positioned to do that work in the most effective way possible.

It is always hard to make changes that result in job loss, but it is our responsibility to do what is in the best interest of the taxpayer. Council’s direction was to achieve $100 million in savings, while improving customer service. This latest phase means that 340 reporting relationships at City Hall have been redefined and management staff levels have been reduced by 45 positions, for an administrative cost savings of 7% and total savings of $3.7 million annually. 

Please let me know what you think.

Today City staff released an updated priority list of infrastructure projects that will create more than 7,000 jobs in the Nation’s Capital and form the basis of the City’s request for federal and provincial stimulus dollars.Please click here to see our priority list of projects.We have prioritized transit, maintenance and renewal. Simply put, we need shovels in the ground on our new transit network and we should not build anything new until we have fixed and refurbished our aging infrastructure.Help from the industryI have met twice with senior staff and the industry who have been extremely helpful in identifying obstacles and solutions to ensure construction starts right away on these projects once the money flows down from the province and the federal governments.Provincial budgetOn Thursday the Province of Ontario will table its annual budget and I expect to see Ottawa get its fair share of stimulus money to fund these priority projects. I am sure our local government caucus, including the Premier, has been working hard for their hometown.Please let me know what you think. Do you believe that transit and renewal projects should be our priority?I look forward to your comments.